I'm Katie Lyon and I'm a 5th grade teacher, VP and blogger at Mrs. Lyon - Teaching: The Art of Possibility. On my blog, I share classroom tips, teaching ideas, and classroom resources. I'm a big fan of technology, and am in charge of our school's 1:1 iPad program. I share tech tips that can be applied to the classroom.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2015

String It Up Art

My students and I just completed what I think is probably the coolest art project we've done this year - String Art! I've been wanting to do a string art project for about the past 6 years now and finally decided this was the year. Instead of doing my usual Mother's Day gift that I do every year, I planned ahead and order the supplies to complete this totally awesome project. The results are awesome and I'm so glad I did it. I think the students' mothers are going to love them! I will definitely do this again each year with my class.
In order to do this project, you will need the following items:

Unfinished Wooden Painting Panels - I did 12 x 12 x 1 inch boards. The BEST price I found was on Consumer Crafts for only $5.97

Paint and paint brushes

Wire Nails - I used 8 Gauge 5/8 inch Galvanized Wire Nails because they have the head so string doesn't slip off

Hammer - I sent home a request for families to send in a hammer and the students shared them

String Art Pattern - I created my own and copied it for students

Tape

Painted boards

Once you have your supplies, the first thing you do is have the students paint their wooden panel in a color they choose. After the paint has dried, they should tape on the pattern. I told the students to do this carefully to ensure that the pattern was not off-centered. After they have decided where to place it, they should use a piece of tape to keep it in place.

Now comes the LOUD part - hammering in the nails. I was a bit nervous about having students do this at first, but no injuries happened. They should put a nail on each of the dots. We talked about how deep the nails should go in - not too deep or they won't be able to put string around them.

Once the nails are in, they should carefully pull the pattern off. When they do this, they make discover they didn't hammer in a nail deep enough and may have to redo a few.

Pull off the pattern

Outline the pattern with string first

Now comes time for the string. First, I had my students do the outline of the shape by looping around each nail. After they have completed that, they can begin to create their design. The best part about this project, is each will look different depending on how they string it together. I would cut my students off pieces of string, and when they would run out, they would get another piece and knot them together. Have them cut off the excess string and keep going. Once they are finished, tie off the final end and trim up any excess.

You can end the project there, or you can allow them to add decorative elements or words to their panel with paint. Regardless, they will each have a unique final wall piece to hang up at home!